Roaming the byways of literature

Archive for the tag “literary festival”

Browsing around the web, as I do from time to time, I stumbled on the site of a magazine called Stylist. I’ve never heard of them before and style type things are not really my style, but one of their articles caught my eye.

It gives a list of what they consider the seven best literary festivals. The events they list are spread all over the country and through the summer. A quick google indicated there are many more festivals. If one had the time, the money and the stamina one could spend weeks on end festivalling – maybe with the odd music event in between.

Back to the seven best. How did they decide?

I imagine some exhausted junior reporter rushing, by bus, between events, staying in horrible b&bs, listening for hours to authors they don’t read, and then scribbling a brief report at 3:00 am to catch a deadline.

Or maybe a senior reporter samples the most interesting talks by authors s/he has read while sipping cocktails in the best hotels. The quality of the cocktails affects the report s/he dictates to the secretary.

Or maybe the editor calls the staff together in their coffee break and demands they each name a festival they’ve enjoyed in the past.

The method of info gathering affects the final list, which affects who attends which events and buys whose books, which affects the authors’ income and popularity with their publisher, which affects whose work gets published, promoted and read at next year’s festivals, and so on into the foreseeable future.

So, the Kempsford Political Literary Weekend, or KLW for short (it can all get a bit wordy) is finally arranged. The theme does seem to have a political bent but there are some interludes to ease the pace. Running from 25th April through to Sunday 27th and all events taking place in St.Mary’s Church, Kempsford the line-up is as follows;

Friday 25th April:
4:30pm: Sir Ivor Crewe: The Blunders of our Government …. we all think they make a mess of it. Government, that is. Sir Ivor Crewe will prove it to you. Gasp in awe at the incredulouness of it all – laugh in despair.
6:00pm: Barry Norman: See you in the Morning ….. who can say those words, Barry Norman, without humming the tune to “Film ..whatever” ? Here he talks about his book and his 53 year long marriage in a…

Like this:

In Hawarden, in a lovely part of North Wales, is Gladstone’s Library. This is an unusual place: a residential library where one can go to study, to write, to use the collections or just to rest.

I stayed there some years ago when studying for an Open University exam. Most of the other residents at the time were doing the same thing. In coffee and meal breaks we shared exam woe stories and encouraged each other to think positive. In between we found it a great place to really get stuck into the revision, while someone else did the cooking and cleaning.

Over the years it has also become a place for writers and often has a writer in residence.

Now the staff are branching out with a literary festival – called Gladfest (a bit of an unfortunate name as there seem to be other festivals with the same one). This year is its first year. It runs from 6th to 8th September and if it’s a success will become an annual event. For a small place like Hawarden it will be a major cultural happening.

Like this:

Crimefest, a convention devoted to crime fiction, takes place every year in Bristol. This year it’s on 24-27 May.

I have so much on that I may not make it this year, but so far it’s still in my diary. Having been several times I now know some of the other regulars, and it’s good to see them again and catch up with their news.

I love being able to wallow in a favourite type of fiction, to meet authors and to listen to a range of panel discussions covering everything from ancient Rome gritty to modern cosy.

I also end up buying more books than I intend to – but isn’t that something we all do?

The event is a meeting between the unreal world of fiction and the real one of the book business, and gives us the best of both.

Festivals – literary, musical, etc – represent a peaceable and friendly sharing of ideas, knowledge and skills. Here are people getting together for civilised learning and discussion on high and popular art and other interests they have in common. The proliferation of such events is surely one of the best things about our culture.